This invention relates to a multidirectional switch operational in more than one direction, such as those often used in video game machines, and to a driving game machine using such a multidirectional switch. More particularly, this invention pertains to a multidirectional switch including a lever slantable in directions of mutually intersecting first and second axes, associated with a switch sensor of which sensing elements are arranged at positions corresponding to individual slant positions of the lever, as well as to a driving game machine using the multidirectional switch.
Conventionally, multidirectional switches of this kind have chiefly been used as manipulators for controlling characters and other objects displayed on a video game monitor screen. FIG. 19 shows a general construction of a conventional multidirectional switch, which comprises a lever 151, four pins 152-155 projecting sideways from a lower portion of the lever 151 in mutually perpendicular directions, and springs 156-159 attached respectively to the outer ends of the pins 152-155 in their axial directions. The lever 151 thus constructed can be moved about a lever support to slant positions in mutually perpendicular four directions shown by arrows X1, X2, Y1 and Y2 in FIG. 19. Close to a lower part of the lever 151, there are four microswitches 160-163 individually mounted in the slanting directions of the lever 151. When the lever 151 is tipped in one direction, one of these microswitches 160-163, located in the corresponding direction, becomes ON.
With this construction, when a player of a game applies force sideways to the lever 151, it goes aslant in one direction and one of the microswitches 160-163 turns on. When the player releases the lever 151, restoration forces of the springs 156-159 cause the lever 151 to return to its upright position and the microswitches 160-163 become all OFF. The individual microswitches 160-163 turn on and off in response to the player's action on the lever 151 to sense its slanting directions, and the game goes on in accordance with information picked up by the microswitches 160-163.
A driving game machine using a multidirectional switch of the above-described conventional type has a monitor screen, and a player "drives" a simulated vehicle while watching an image displayed on the monitor screen. In playing a game such as an automobile race, the player can control the simulated vehicle in manual transmission mode, in which upshift and downshift operations are carried out by changing the lever slanting position of the multidirectional switch.
The conventional multidirectional switch provides information on different player actions as its lever 151 can be slanted in the directions of two mutually perpendicular axes. However, the lever 151 automatically returns to its upright position when released no matter in which direction it is slanted. This means that the information derived from this multidirectional switch is limited to a small number of stereotyped operations and it is impossible to obtain information on a wide variety of player actions which would be required when a game is carried out in different modes.
In the aforementioned conventional driving game machine using the conventional multidirectional switch, once the player selects manual transmission mode at the beginning of a game, there is no alternative but to drive the simulated vehicle in manual transmission mode, continually manipulating the lever of the multidirectional switch throughout the game. One problem of the conventional driving game machine is that players unskilled in manual lever operation could occasionally find it difficult to go on playing at the machine halfway during a game. Another problem of the conventional driving game machine is that, for expert players who are skilled in manual lever operation, it is not so attractively exciting to drive the vehicle by continually moving the multidirectional switch in manual transmission mode throughout the game.